Day 89: A New Circular Motion Worksheet

I posted previously about how I designed a new worksheet to directly address the problem where normal force changes directions depending on speed for vertical circles, and today I saw the fruit of that worksheet. I had two groups whiteboard each section and then present together. These groups assumed normal force was in different directions for part c, and the answers came out the same with opposite signs. The worksheet forced them to address the direction of normal force, and reconciled it at the end by finding the speed of the coaster if normal force is zero. Most of the material I use I’ve stolen from the normal modeling materials and Kelly O’Shea, but this is one I’m really proud of because of the great thinking and discussion that resulted. The worksheet can be found in my CFPM packet.